


The Stars Incline Us

by galfridian



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post-Episode: s02e08 Spacewalker, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 12:21:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3067646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galfridian/pseuds/galfridian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-2x08, the prompt: Why are you staring at me like that?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Stars Incline Us

Abby wakes shivering, curled around an empty spot where Clarke was sleeping when she drifted into her own dreamless sleep. During the day, Clarke shoulders her grief and guilt, tries to mend the tear in her relationship with Raven, but nightmares and doubt come at night. Four nights have passed since their uneasy alliance with the Grounders began, and each one, Clarke has reluctantly settled into Abby’s arms.

Abby stands, catching a glimpse of pale, early morning light as she stretches. Although Clarke sleeps fitfully, Abby usually wakes before her. Outside, Camp Jaha is quiet, asleep except for a few guards on duty. The sun is still rising, not quite peeking over the treeline.

A few tired campfires burn still, and at one, she recognizes the silhouetted figures of her daughter and Marcus. Abby pauses, surprised, and watches as Marcus leans toward Clarke, whose shoulders are hunched. He gestures to something – a map, Abby realizes – and Clarke turns toward him. She points to something on the map, then draws a path with her finger, and Marcus nods.

Unbidden, her feet take her toward them, and as she approaches, she sees Clarke become more animated, more confident. More – “no, I think it’s the right approach,” Abby hears her say – hopeful.

"Just a few more days," Marcus says as Abby reaches them. "We’ll have them here soon."

They notice her then, and as she takes a seat between them, Abby says, “Mount Weather?”

"The Grounders are as anxious to rescue their people as we are," Marcus explains.

"We attack in two days," Clarke says, already standing. "I need to tell Bellamy and – " she pauses, eyes flickering toward Raven and Wick’s workstation, " – the others."

"Eat something, okay?" Abby says, but Clarke’s halfway to Bellamy’s tent.

As Abby watches her disappear, Marcus says, “She’ll be okay, Abby.”

Abby wants to say, _how do you know_ , but she knows he’ll say, _because she’s your daughter_. And right now, that’s what haunts her the most, the knowledge that she and Clarke share a burden. Two men sacrificed to the illusion of the better good. Of all the things a mother hopes her daughter will inherit, this is not one of them. “I know,” she settles on, because she knows this much about her daughter: she _survives_.

"I worry about Raven most," Marcus confesses. "About Clarke and Raven. The things they’ve been through – they need each other."

"She’ll forgive her," Abby says. Marcus frowns, folds the map meticulously, and does not meet her eye. "It’ll take time, but she will. On Earth, we have to forgive, and I don’t know – " Here, she pulls the map from his hands, forcing him to look at her. " – maybe that’s a good thing."

Behind him, the sky has turned to shades of orange and pink, and Abby is reminded of the poetry they read in Earth Skills when they learned about sunrises and sunsets. And until this moment, she hasn’t realized that she’s already forgiven him everything – until this moment, she hasn’t realized _a lot_ , it seems.

Abruptly, Marcus stands. “I should check that the overnight guards have been relieved.”

And this is so unlike Marcus, so unlike the man who could sit across the Council’s table and argue with her over the most trivial subjects, that she stares at his empty seat for a beat before she’s on her feet and after him. She follows him into the command tent, watches as he flips through the guard roster on his tablet. “Marcus?”

"Could you order Byrne to take tonight night off? She’s exhausted from pulling double-shifts, but apparently, she’s no longer interested in my opinions."

"Marcus, what are you – " He flips through the roster, continuing to look anywhere but at her; and it occurs to her that although he’s less subtle about it now, he’s been this way since he came back from Lexa’s camp. _What the hell?_ She crosses the room and pulls the tablet from his hand. “What’s going on with you?”

"What do you mean?"

"Don’t play dumb, Marcus." He’s a lot of things, but that isn’t one. "You’ve been different since you came back."

"I would think," he says, finally meeting her stare in that stubborn, maddening way he always has, "that would be a good thing."

"Some change is good, Marcus, but this – you’ve avoided me, when it wasn’t life or death. And you’ve never run away from a conversation. When you came back, you said you wanted us to trust each other, to talk to each other. So talk.”

He sighs, taking the tablet from her hands and setting it gently on the Council table. “I’m sorry, Abby, but all I could think while we were out there was _why are you staring at me like that_? And I didn’t want to think – I didn’t want to hope…”

"That what, Marcus?" But she knows, of course. She can feel it in her bones, in the atmosphere of the room, in the dip of his shoulders.

"It could be argued – and reasonably so – that it’s asking too much to hope for your friendship, Abby. To dream of anything more would be foolish. Not after the lives we’ve led." He dares a glance at her. "It’s daft, isn’t it: sometimes, even seeing how beautiful Earth is, I wish the Ark hadn’t failed."

She studies him, and against the frantic hammering of her heart, she tries to imagine her life untangled from his. She can’t, and although she would trade almost anything to see Jake – just once – on Earth, she knows that Marcus isn’t one of those things. “But we wouldn’t be here,” she says, taking his hand in hers, “and we wouldn’t know this.” With her free hand, she gestures between them.

Marcus swallows, staring at their joined hands. “Abby – “

"And I’ll tell you when you’re being foolish, Marcus. I always have."

When she kisses him, she thinks again of poetry and of the sun climbing into the sky.


End file.
